1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling an induction heating system of a cooktop provided with an induction coil, particularly for controlling it in connection with a predetermined working condition.
More specifically the invention relates to a method to estimate the temperature of a cooking utensil placed on the cooktop and the temperature of the food contained therein, as well as the food mass.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the term “heating system” we mean not only the induction coil, the driving circuit thereof and the glass ceramic plate or the like on which the cooking utensil is placed, but also the cooking utensil itself, the food content thereof and any element of the system. As a matter of fact in the induction heating systems it is almost impossible to make a distinction between the heating element, on one side, and the cooking utensil, on the other side, since the cooking utensil itself is an active part of the heating process.
The increasing need of cooktops performances in food preparation is reflected in the way technology is changing in order to meet customer's requirements. Technical solutions related to the evaluation of the cooking utensil or “pot” temperature derivative are known from EP-A-1732357 and EP-A-1420613, but none discloses a quantitative estimation of the pot temperature.
Information is available in scientific literature about algorithms concerning state estimation (Recursive Least Square, Kalman Filter, Extended Kalman Filter [EKF] etc.); none of them relates to an industrial application focused on induction cooking appliances.